Will Ryan Fitzpatrick be back for the Miami Dolphins? That’s a question that feels already be answered going into the 2021 offseason. The Dolphins appear intent on moving on and transitioning fully to their young quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa. That would mitigate the need and presence of Fitzpatrick on the roster, making him a departing free agent and a long-shot to return to the Dolphins in 2021. But even with Fitzpatrick’s status up in the air, his departure seemingly imminent, the veteran quarterback still managed to find a chance to be the friend and mentor to Tagovailoa that the Dolphins hoped he would be as they groomed the rookie quarterback this season.
This past week was not an easy one for Tua Tagovailoa. His media tour in the buildup to the Super Bowl this week led him to shows on SiriusXM radio, The Dan Patrick Show, ESPN’s Get UP! and others — and the questions about his level of play and the rumors of Miami potentially being a contender to trade for star quarterback Deshaun Watson were persistent themes throughout the week.
Tagovailoa handled those questions humbly. But never the less, it wasn’t always easy to watch.
Enter Fitzpatrick. In an interview with ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe, Fitzpatrick offered his input as how the Dolphins’ second-year quarterback can best process the noise and make the most of his offseason.
“I saw Tua’s comments from the other day. The advice I would give him and what he’s going to do is put your head down, you go to work, you tune all that stuff out and you let your presence, leadership ability and play on the field doing all the talking for you. There’s always going to be rumors. There’s always going to be haters and doubters,” said Fitzpatrick.
“As long as you have the belief in yourself and a team that believes in you because of how you carry yourself every day, that’s what matters. It gets harder and harder as social media is such a big part of everybody’s life now to tune it out, but that’s what he has to do, and that’s what I think he’s going to do.”
Fitzpatrick knows all too well about rumors of being replaced — he dealt with such rumors and calls for his job seemingly every year (or at the very least every other year) of his long playing career. Granted, Fitzpatrick didn’t enter the league as a top-5 pick, which is why Tagovailoa’s pressure is already mounting versus many other quarterbacks. As the billed “savior” of the Dolphins’ franchise for a full year before he was even drafted by the team, expectations for Tagovailoa were never going to match reality.
But it is up to Tagovailoa to form his own reality and live up to his own standards before worrying about any kind of noise from the outside world; just as Ryan Fitzpatrick recommends.